South Bend, Ind. - Power play goals from senior captain Jim Slater and freshman forward Jim McKenzie were enough for the MSU hockey team to edge Notre Dame, 2-1, on Saturday completing its first series sweep since early November, and solidifying home ice for the first-round CCHA playoffs.

"I though we pretty much played well from start to finish, we just couldn 't score, " MSU head coach Rick Comley said.

"We just felt we were doing what we had to do, and had a couple big power play goals tonight. I thought it was a real solid win. "

The Spartans (17-15-4 overall, 12-13-3 CCHA) started up right where they left off Friday, peppering Notre Dame goaltender Morgan Cey with shots.

Cey came up big on numerous chances and kept the game even when he stoned sophomore forward Drew Miller on a breakaway.

The Spartans got on the board late in the first period on a 5-on-3 power play when Slater one-timed a pass from sophomore forward Tyler Howells to give MSU a 1-0 lead going into the intermission.

Notre Dame (5-25-6, 3-20-5) evened the score midway through the second on a power-play tally of its own, but McKenzie answered minutes later with the man advantage to give MSU the lead for good.

The goal marked McKenzie 's ninth goal in nine games and his 10th of the season.

"We came out with the mentality that we had to win this game, " McKenzie said. "We came out and we showed what could happen if we played three strong periods. "

Sophomore goaltender Dominic Vicari made several point-blank saves in the third to keep the Spartans on top.

"It came down to the wire here, but it 's going to be good to go back to Munn there and get home ice, " Vicari said.

"This was a big weekend for us, especially going into playoffs, now we kind of have the momentum. "

The Spartans will host Miami (Ohio) on played Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) in the best of three series.